NYU administration thuggishly breaks occupation

Continuous updates on Twitter.

Today New York University has shown its true face more than ever. Claiming to be a "private university in the public service," it is clearly not even in the service of those students whose tuitions allow it to exist.

Earlier today, NYU cut power to all outlets in the occupied space and turned off the wireless internet.  Obviously this was an attempt to silence and intimidate the occupiers who have broad-based support.

Then, NYU said it would negotiate and instead detained and suspended the student negotiators when they showed up.  Security has now broken through the barricade and people are being detained and suspended.

Instead of dialog and negotiation, the NYU administration has shown they prefer the authoritarian, dissent-quashing, dictator route. It is a true reflection of how they run their university. Nothing but thugs with suits on, interested in getting rich under the guise of "education."

Be prepared to defend any individual or group that is targeted academically or legally for their role in the occupation. Widespread support for the occupation and its demands will not be extinguished by NYU's hypocritical, tyrannical behavior.

Come out to 60 Washington Square South if you can.

Email NYU Administrators. Demand amnesty and no suspensions:

NYU President John Sexton: john.sexton@nyu.edu

John Beckman, NYU Spokesperson: jhb5@nyu.edu

Office of the Provost: provost@nyu.edu

Office of the Vice President: evp@nyu.edu

Comments

[Roland Shep]

Maybe the power was cut and the internet was cut because ITS NOT YOURS TO USE! Hey considering alot of you "supporters" werent even from the school and the school is a PRIVATE university you dont have the right t any of the things you demnded, I hope your all expelled! Inconveincing students who were paying thier tutions b blocking access to the STUDENT area while trying to strike at the Administration was dumb to begin with, dont get me started on the girls flashing tits out side for god knows what reason (how does tit flashing equal feminism??) Maybe next time you bobbleheads will find something smarter to back? See the thing about NYU is: If you dont like it DONT GO THERE AND SUPPORT THEM BY PAYING YOUR TUITION thats how they make money monkey brains! go to CCNY...

[NYU]

"Obviously this was an attempt to silence and intimidate the occupiers who have broad-based support."

Despite the amount of non-NYU protesters present last night (who turned the event into a Gaza support rally), the occupiers do NOT have broad-based support among the NYU community. If TBNYU actually believes so, its members are stuck in a bubble. Just about every NYU student I've spoken to rolls their eyes at TBNYU's debacle of a protest. Other students frankly don't care.

While we (and especially I) agree with TBNYU's central complaint - NYU's lack of transparency in handling our/my money - the occupation dealt with issues beyond what concerned NYU. This effectively ripped any credibility TBNYU had straight out of its hands. Their list of demands was essentially a clusterfuck of liberal beliefs. I am liberal, but I understand that I cannot make Pres. John Sexton become transparent and end the war in Gaza and stop Coca Cola from its poor labor practices and open up our library to public by simply stacking chairs in front of a door, which the NYU guards found laughable ("If they would just let us, we could just go in and punch them and it would all be over").

In the end, the general NYU population will follow the lead of these security guards and laugh at TBNYU. The occupation was a reason to be in the news and a reason to scream loud noises, but not much more. I would love to take TBNYU's demands seriously, but only as much as I would also like to believe everything in this world will be fixed by taking over a dining hall.

So thank you TBNYU, for getting "your voice" heard, for entertaining the security guards and, above all, for giving us all a good laugh.

Best,

Just about every NYU student

[dorah rosen]

If there are enough people working towards these ends, ie enough to counter all the people fighting to keep the status quo, then there can be transparency/better policies for the future NYU administration- there can be peace in Gaza and there can be a change in Coke's labor practices and even its environmental practices.

[Chris]

For a movement that claims to be about concern for "the other," it's embarassing that the first demand is amnesty for the protestors. Make that the last demand next time. Protest is about risk, not CYA up front before you get to the real issues.

Also, someone in the movement should spend some time with a teacher of investigative journalism or forensic economics with a liberal streak (not that hard to find). You would be surprised at how much economic information is disclosed by univesities if you know how and where to look.

Here is a good place to start: any bond issues that may have been floated to benefit NYU. Considerable financial disclosures go into that process. Also, look into the history of legal action against NYU. Once an institution ends up in court, the judge and not the provist decides what is and isn't public information.